POV is the only D.C. lounge/bar/pub/mega-club/watering hole named as a finalist this year for the Nightclub & Bar Awards. The uber-posh rooftop lounge at the W Hotel earned a nomination in the — who’d a guessed it? — Hotel Bar category.
Now perhaps all this means something in your world. To be honest, until yesterday I had never heard of Nightclub & Bar, the trade magazine behind the awards. My lack of familiarity with publication, of course, says absolutely nothing.
The magazine does host the massive Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show, which attracts thousands to Las Vegas and must be, I’d guess, the largest gathering of professional drink-slingers on Earth. (Hmm, does the show reduce its chosen trade to a series of snooze-inducing panels like most conventions do, thereby rendering drinking as boring as, say, computer chip technology?) The mag, in other words, seems to have some cred.
I have to admit, though, that its credibility took a hit when the magazine didn’t include Birch & Barley/ChurchKey among the finalists for Beer Bar of the Year. Seriously, how on earth could you overlook the place with 500-plus beers available (and 50-plus on draft), courtesy of the single-biggest beer geek I know?And that doesn’t even take into consideration that B&B/CK goes one step further and pairs beer with food.
Maybe the place is too young? Well, B&B/CK opened in October; POV opened in July. Is anyone going to argue that three months makes all the difference?
Y&H Nation, what’s your thought on Birch & Barley/ChurchKey and the Nightclub & Bar Awards? Slight or oversight? Any other slights you see on the list (which is published after the jump)?
By the way, Frederick’s Champion Billiards Sports Café earned a nod in the Sports Bar of the Year category. All winners will be announced next month.
NIGHTCLUB CATEGORY FINALISTS
Mega-Club of the Year
* Pacha NYC, New York
* Rain, Las Vegas
* Stingaree, San Diego
* XS, Las Vegas
New Club of the Year
* Infusion Lounge, San Francisco
* Playhouse Hollywood, Los Angeles
* Voyeur, West Hollywood
* XS, Las Vegas
Nightclub of the Year
* The Avalon Hollywood, Los Angeles
* Lavo, Las Vegas
* Opera, Atlanta
* Tao, Las Vegas
* Tryst, Las Vegas
Ongoing Promotion of the Year
* Pacha NYC, New York – Toolroom Knights
* Rain, Las Vegas — Paul Oakenfold’s Perfecto Vegas
* Hard Rock, Las Vegas – Rehab
* Tao, Las Vegas – Worship Thursdays
Resident DJ
* Danny Tenaglia – Pacha NYC, New York
* Paul Oakenfold – Rain, Las Vegas
* Roonie G – Opera, Atlanta
* Z-Trip – Rain, Las Vegas
Single Promotion of the Year
* Four Year Anniversary – Tao, Las Vegas
* Love Festival – Palms, Las Vegas
* Midsummer Night’s Dream – Palms, Las Vegas
* The Young & The Restless – Opera, Atlanta
Ultra-Lounge of the Year
* 32° Degrees Lux Lounge, Philadelphia
* Blush Boutique Lounge, Las Vegas
* Halo, Atlanta
* Pink Monkey, Chicago
BAR CATEGORY FINALISTS
Bartender of the Year (category sponsored by Absolut Vodka)
* Charles Joly – The Drawing Room, Chicago
* Columbine Quillen — The Blacksmith Restaurant, Bar, and Lounge, Bend, Ore.
* H. Joseph Ehrmann – Elixir, San Francisco
* Russell Davis – Peche, Austin
Beer Bar of the Year
* Eulogy Belgian Tavern, Philadelphia
* Gritty McDuff’s, Portland, Maine
* Tapwerks Ale House & Café, Oklahoma City
* Willimantic Brewing Company, Willimantic, Conn.
Cocktail Lounge of the Year (category sponsored by Absolut Vodka)
* 675 Bar, New York
* The Drawing Room, Chicago
* Frankie’s Tiki Room, Las Vegas
* The Naga Cocktail Lounge, Bellevue, Wash.
Hotel Bar
* 207, Hard Rock Hotel, San Diego
* BOND Restaurant & Lounge, The Langham, Boston
* Hudson Bar, Hudson Hotel, New York
* POV, W Hotel, Washington, DC
Small Wonder Bar of the Year
* The Empty Glass, Charleston, West Virginia
* In Between, Honolulu
* Manifesto, Kansas City
* Qua Bottle Lounge, Austin
Sports Bar of the Year
* Blondie’s Sports Bar & Grill, Las Vegas
* Champion Billiards Sports Café, Frederick, Md.
* Connolly’s Sports Bar & Grill, Royal Palm Beach, Fla.
* Jerome Bettis Grill 36, Pittsburgh
Wine Bar of the Year
* Ivy Ultra Lounge and Wine Bar, San Diego
* Flute Midtown, New York
* Mercy Wine Bar, Dallas
* Zebra’s Bistro & Wine Bar, Medfield, Mass.
Photo courtesy of the W Hotel